Oberto All Natural Beef Jerky (Gluten Free!)

Whenever we go on a trip, I always pack lots of snacks. One snack that I really like and have been missing is beef jerky. I pretty much only ever but it for vacations since it is pricey. But I haven't ever been able to find a beef jerky that is gluten free until yesterday.  I was at Sam's Club and noticed this Oberto all natural beef jerky on the end of an aisle.

I had a feeling it might be gluten free, so I stopped for a closer look.  Sure enough, it is gluten free!  And it is delicious!  It tastes just like I remembered beef jerky tasting.  Which makes me wonder why most beef jerky contains gluten to begin with.

Product Review: Glutino Pretzel Twists

A few days ago, my friend Andrea was talking to me about various gluten free foods. Her son is allergic to wheat, so they eat a lot of gluten free things. She asked me if I had tried gluten free pretzels. I hadn't because I'm not a big fan of them, except for the big soft and chewy ones slathered in butter and coarse salt. Andrea isn't gluten free, yet she said that she liked gluten free pretzels better than regular ones. Of course this meant that I bought them on my next shopping trip.

Andrea didn't specify a brand, but the common one I see in grocery stores around here is Glutino. 

They are a bit pricey compared to regular pretzels. I paid $3.89 for an 8 oz package, which was the sale price. The regular price is $4.29. By comparison, I can usually get a 16 oz bag of regular pretzels made from wheat for $1 on sale or $1.69 regular. This is normal for gluten free products.

I barely made it to my car in the grocery store parking lot before opening the pretzels. It was lunchtime, but I was pretty excited to try the pretzels too. So, did I like them? Yes! I are half the bag over the next hour or two. And remember, I'm not a big pretzel fan. They were crispier than regular pretzels, and they tasted a little bit buttery. They don't have any butter in them, and they don't have an excessive amount of fat in them either. So I'm not sure how that works, but it does. The pretzels also had just enough salt in them...not too much or too little. I really liked these pretzels and will be buying them again, although probably not too frequently just because of the price.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated by any party for this post. I bought the pretzels with my own money, and all opinions are my own.

Product Review: Baker's Corner Gluten Free Brownie Mix from Aldi

I bought the new gluten free brownie mix from Aldi a couple of weeks ago, and I finally tried it out the other day.  Not bad, I say.  Here's a list of pros and cons for the mix.

Pros

• Thick: These brownies turned out about 2 inches thick.  This was a pleasant surprise since it only makes a small pan.
• Chewy: These brownies were not too cakey and not too fudgey.  They were a great chewy brownie.
• Not Gritty: A common problem with gluten-free baked goods is grittiness, but not with these.  Aldi's brownies were not gritty at all, not even the next day (which often happens with GF baked goods as well).
• Tasty: These GF brownies taste like a brownie.  Yum!
• Cheaper: Like most products from Aldi, this mix is cheaper than what you will pay for name brand products at other grocery stores.  I paid $2.99 for the Aldi mix.  Other grocery stores in my area have brownie mixes that run about $4-$6 each.
• Moist: These brownies were not dry at all.  Even the next day, they were still moist.
• Convenient: Like all brownie mixes, this one was convenient.  In addition to the mix, you only need 2 Tablespoons of water, 1/2 cup of oil or melted butter (I opted for the butter.), and 2 eggs.  You probably have all of that stuff on hand right now.

Cons

• "Not Chocolatey Enough": These were the words of my husband, who consumes gluten daily.  And I have to agree.  Although these brownies were pretty good, they could have used a little more chocolate flavor.
• Only makes an 8x8 or 9" round pan: Be forewarned, Baker's Corner GF Brownie Mix will not feed a crowd.  If you want to make a 9x13 pan of brownies, you are going to need two mixes.
• Looked Weird: These brownies looked odd when I pulled them out of my oven.  Brownies made from a mix tend to have a crackly top.  These brownies do have a crackly top, but only in the middle.  I had about an inch wide border around the pan that did not have a crackly top.  (See the picture below.) Why this happened is a mystery to me.  If I were serving them to company, I definitely would have covered them in frosting so they would look normal.
• Crumbly: Probably the worst part of these brownies was the fact that they completely fell apart when I tried to take them out the pan.  They were a mangled mess even though I sprayed the pan liberally with cookie spray.
• Long Bake Time: The box listed the bake time as 30-35 minutes.  Mine took about 45 minutes (as you can see from all the toothpick holes in the picture from testing repeatedly). This seemed really long for brownies.  The recipe I normally use for brownies from scratch bakes up in about 20-25 minutes.

In conclusion, I will keep making my brownies from scratch.  However, if I bought brownie mixes regularly, I would buy these again.  They were pretty tasty.  And if I could figure out how to get them out the pan without completely destroying them, I would even share them with friends.

Note: I was not compensated for this post.  I bought the brownie mix with my own money, and all opinions are my own.

Just Another Reason to Love Junior Mints

Sorry for the iPod pictures. If you can't read the back of the box, it clearly says that Junior Mints are made in a facility that does not use gluten, peanuts, or tree nuts. Hurray! I can't tolerate gluten, and one of my children is allergic to peanuts. That makes Junior Mints twice as good in my book.

Tips for a Gluten-free Endurance Race

I ran a half marathon on Saturday.  It was my fourth one, but only the first time I have run a race gluten-free since I have only been GF since October.  Here are my tips for enjoyable gluten-free racing.

• Check with the race to see what fuel is provided during and after the race.  This information is usually available on the race's website.  If not, there is usually contact information provided for races.  It's worth looking into so you don't end up glutened. 
• GU products are gluten free!  The website for the race that I participated in stated that GU energy gel would be available, which is what I used for my previous races.  According to GU's website, all of their products are gluten free.  Check it out here.
• 
• CLIF SHOT Energy Gel is NOT gluten-free!  I probably should have put this first because I think it is my most important tip.  I bought a CLIF SHOT Energy Gel for my race because it did not say anywhere on the package anything about gluten, wheat, barley, rye, etc.  I figured that it was fine.  When I got home, I googled it just to check.  It clearly states on CLIF's website that their energy gel is not a gluten-free product.  Check it out here.  I wish it had warned me on the package.  I wouldn't have bought it.  Here's an example of what it looks like.
• 
• Bring your own food for after the race.  Most races, including the one that I ran, have various food and drinks at the finish.  Unfortunately, this usually means bagels and granola bars along with fruit, water, and Gatorade.  Obviously, I could have the fruit and drinks, but that wasn't enough for me post-race.  Luckily, I had planned for this and packed an extra Larabar and a Ziploc bag of Chex cereal in my gear check bag. This worked well for me.  Do what works for you.

What tips do you have for competing in endurance races gluten-free?

Note: I was not compensated by any party for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Product Review: Baker's Corner Gluten Free Baking Mix from Aldi

I tried out Aldi's new Gluten Free Baking Mix in two different recipes last week.  First, I used it to make some cheddar garlic drop buscuits.  Then I used it to make a buttermilk pie.

Let's start with the biscuits.  The biscuits were very tasty, but I think it was because of the massive amounts of cheese, butter, and garlic that I used on them.  I think that if I had used the mix for plain biscuits, they would have been very bland.  Rather than using a blend of various gluten-free flours for the mix, it only contains white rice flour.  White rice flour just doesn't have much flavor.  My second issue with the biscuits was the fact that the next day they were gummy.  I'm not a food scientist, so I don't know why this happened.  But it definitely was not a good texture for a biscuit.

Now let's talk about the pie.  If you've never tried buttermilk pie, you should.  It may not sound like much, but it is delicious.  The filling becomes almost custard after baking, and it is divine.  The main problem that I had using the baking mix for the pie was the texture.  It was a little bit gritty the first day and very gritty the next day.  I think this can be attributed to the white rice flour again.  It is grittier than brown rice flour and many other gluten-free flours that you can use.

The other problem I had was with browning, but I'm not sure if this was the baking mix, my oven, or user error.  The biscuits didn't seem to brown very well, and the pie turned out too brown by the time the filling was completely cooked.

Overall, this baking mix is very similar to gluten-free Bisquick.  It's main ingredient is white rice flour as well.  Basically, if you like GF Bisquick, you will like Baker's Corner Gluten Free Baking Mix from Aldi.  If that is the case, you might as well buy the Aldi kind.  I paid $2.99 at my local Aldi, and the Bisquick goes for about twice as much around here.  I believe the boxes are the same size too.

Like I said earlier, I usually make most things from scratch and don't buy many gluten free mixes anymore.  But if you really want to know what I think, forget Bisquick.  Buy Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix.  It actually has flavor and tastes good.  It isn't gritty either.

P.S. I will post the biscuit and pie recipes soon.

P.P.S. I wasn't compensated by any party for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Multi-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend

In order to create quality gluten-free baked goods, you need to use multiple flours.  I like the King Arthur brand gluten-free flour blend.  I always have great results with it.  However, it can be pretty expensive, as with all GF products on the market.  Luckily, if you go to King Arthur Flour's website and look for gluten-free recipes, each recipe has a note telling you how to make your own substitute flour blend.  I have started doing this myself, and it is a piece of cake.  I haven't bought the blend since.

In a large bowl whisk together the following:

• 9 cups (48 oz) brown rice flour
• 3 cups (16 oz) potato starch
• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz) tapioca flour or tapioca starch

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Note:  I did adapt this recipe a little bit.  I used the same ratio of ingredients but make 50% more.  I also just use regular brown rice flour instead of stabilized without any problems.  I always buy Bob's Red Mill brand GF flours.  For the brown rice flour, I just dump in two bags (24 oz each).  Then I measure out the potato starch and tapioca flour by the cup.  I never weigh them.

This blend has worked well for me as a cup-for-cup replacement for all purpose flour in most baked goods.  The only exception that I am aware of is yeast breads.  GF yeast breads are completely different from ones with gluten.  It is a science that I am still trying to figure out.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.